The Leeds United Foundation have been delivering awareness workshops in partnership with West Yorkshire Police, West Yorkshire Fire Service and Safer Schools Officers in South Leeds focused around firework safety in the lead up to Bonfire night as part of the Premier League Kicks programme.

These workshops have formed part of the Healthy Holiday Camps that are delivered by coaches at the Foundation under the Premier League Kicks umbrella and during the camps this week they have been celebrating the commitment from the Premier League to fund the community programme for another three years.

This investment will enable more than 175,000 young people to access Premier League Kicks sessions throughout England and Wales - engaging them in positive activities through their passion for football, whilst also addressing topics covering everything from equality and inclusion to youth violence and knife crime.

Following the success of the Foundation’s Healthy Holidays project at Cockburn High School, the club’s official charity decided to run another camp at Beeston St Luke’s Primary School over the half term, the perfect way to celebrate news of the recent investment.

The camp has been targeted at 20 young individuals from the South Leeds area and has engaged the students in multi-sport activity sessions and educational workshops to help provide them with opportunities, support and pathways to achieve their full potential.

Along with the bonfire and firework safety workshops there has also been sessions on healthy living, forensics, bikeability, road safety and Network Rail safety.

As part of the programme the youngsters were also given packed lunches everyday from partner Rethink Food, ensuring those who would usually have school lunches provided were given healthy food options each day.

The main aim of the Kicks programme and in turn the ‘Healthy Holidays’ camps is to deliver a mixture of sport and education to local communities where projects are needed most, with a real focus on integration, equality and inclusion.

Premier League Executive Director Bill Bush said: “The Premier League Kicks programme has been running successfully through our clubs and many across the EFL for thirteen years. To show our commitment to young people and communities, we are investing further to ensure its continuation for another three years, until 2022.

“Kicks is our flagship community programme and we are pleased that with the support of clubs and partners across the country, not least the police, we can continue to positively impact young people, providing them with opportunities and pathways that they may not have been able to access. Twenty per cent of current Premier League Kicks staff are former participants or volunteers, which goes to show how a long-term commitment can provide support and pathways for young people to better themselves, in turn allowing them to be a positive influence to others growing up in their community.”